Power Rider: The Longest Night
by Virgil of New Genesis
Summary: A young genius who has been trusted with a powerful device is thrown into a world where science and magic clash. He searches in the chaos for his father as a great secret comes to light, a secret that could alter the balance of power in the fight between good and evil.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes: Yes, this is yet another rewrite of this series, an attempt to make it better, writing wise, to add some perspective to the Rangers' side of the story, and to add more character development. There's also one other thing I'd wish to address; most of the reviews of the previous draft have been simple words of encouragement and, while it's nice and all, I'd ask that you simply PM me to give me those. I'm looking for genuine feedback and I honestly don't want to read a REVIEW that says 'This is awesome!' or something similar (one word reviews tend to be the norm, though). Likewise, if you have any questions (such as character changes, story style, etc.) send them via PM, too. For those of you who don't read these notes, though, I'll simply ask nicely to stop. I am looking to improve my writing and, while the words of encouragement are nice, I don't feel they belong in the review section. **

**Now that's out of the way, enjoy, and please review.**

It had been nearly ten thousand years, ten centuries since the war witch Rita had been imprisoned in an inter-dimensional device by the wizard, Zordon. Yet, she was finally free, free to carry out her plans of universal domination. And she would start with the nearest inhabited planet.

"Rita, wake up, you're free!" Baboo, a 5th dimensional imp that had always followed Rita around, stated as she opened her eyes.

"At last," she said with a start as she rose and psychokinetically urged her staff into her hands, "How were we freed?"

"It was those two 'hu-mans'," Squat, another 5th dimensional imp, told her, "I believe they're called 'astronauts'," the two men in EVA suits cowered in fear as Rita advanced toward them.

"Well, let me give you two a gift," she held out her hand and gestured, the helmets lifted off of their heads as they attempted to keep them on in vain. Shock marked their faces as they discovered that they were able to breathe the air of the planet they called Mars, "A reward for my rescuers." Rita continued to advance, the two men frozen in place, but not by fear. They had begun to feel a certain attraction to this strange woman, and they couldn't help but wait and see what they were to receive. With the slightest movement, Rita bent over and kissed one of the astronauts as he screamed in pain. In seconds, where the astronaut stood, a pile of dust and an empty space suit were all that remained.

The second astronaut finally snapped out of the trance and began to run. "Allow me the pleasure of this hunt, mistress," a strange man who appeared to be human with ebony skin and bright yellow eyes, stated as he exited the device that had imprisoned Rita for so long.

"Attack him, Goldar, my reward to you for your centuries of servitude," Rita commanded as the man, Goldar, ran toward the second astronaut at speeds beyond the capability of normal humans, "Finster!" Rita beckoned to a third being, a humanoid male with pale-green skin and gleaming silver hair.

"Yes, my queen?" Finster asked lazily.

"Build me a palace close to the nearest habitable planet. I want to be able to see the inhabitance scream as their world is burned to ashes."

"Right away, Mistress Rita," Finster responded as Goldar returned with a severed head in his right hand.

* * *

"It's beautiful," Rita remarked as she entered the castle that had been built only hours before.

"I certainly agree, mistress, but where's the arena?" Goldar asked as he began to sniff around.

"Down the hall to the right," Finster told him, then remarked, "You don't think I'd forget about you, Goldar. After all, we've been together for nearly 10,000 years."

"Whatever. Create some opponents for me to face," Goldar stated, anger that had been building up for a fraction of a millennium surged through his veins, "And be sure they're worthy, not like those so-called 'putties' that you create."

"Save your strength for Earth, Goldar," Rita spoke softly to her henchman as he drew closer to her, "There's a whole world for the taking down there. I just need you to seize the opportunity. Earth has no protection from us, wipe them all out."

"As you wish, my mistress. But I would like to test these so-called humans in combat," Goldar remarked.

"As you will, my pet, but heed my call when it is time," Rita declared as she teleported Goldar down to Earth.


	2. Chapter 1

**Somewhere outside Angel Grove, California, 6:48 p.m.**

The earth began to quake, and Zordon knew it only meant one thing.

"Oh no, this is it; the big one. Rita's returned!" declared the large disk-shaped robot that was hovering around the relatively dark room.

"Be calm, Alpha," Zordon calmly told his robotic ally as he made his holographic hand touch where Alpha's shoulder might be if he was humanoid, "We've planned for this. Teleport the five to the Command Center."

"But, they're just teenagers!" Alpha proclaimed as he looked toward the white light that was Zordon, "They're too young!"

"It matters not their age; only that they are compatible with the coins. Unfortunately, we all have to grow up sometime. It's part of what makes life worth living."

"Okay, initiating transport now."

* * *

**Angel Grove High School, 15 hours earlier**

Bart McKay felt a bit strange walking the halls of a public school, almost as if he was an outsider. Everything around him was a novelty, though he expected a sense of overwhelming nervousness given that he was home schooled for the past 8 years. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the sea of teenaged bodies to find his first class, English with a Mrs. Appelton. As he walked, he pulled out his iPhone to check for any messages. The night before, he'd performed a remote hack of the FBI database, and he had a friend sorting though the information, but so far, nothing. He was finding it a bit tiring, the constant hacks in his endless search for his dad, always seeking, never finding anything.

It was at that moment that Bart bumped into a new 'friend', the Jock. "What'd you do that for?!" the Jock yelled as everyone stopped in their tracks.

"I didn't mean to, honestly," Bart replied as the Jock formed a fist.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," he threw a right hook at Bart, and rather clumsily, as Bart easily dodged it, leaving the Jock to punch in a locker door. The Jock grunted in pain as he held his now bleeding hand.

"Now what's going on?" the principal asked as he finally arrived.

"Jace tried to punch the new kid when he dodged…" a voice from the edge of the crowd told the principal as he checked out the Jock's, Jace's, wound.

"That'll be enough out of you, Ms. Hart," the principal interrupted her with a calm, yet threatening voice. "Come along, both of you," Bart knew this wasn't going to end well.

* * *

"So, what happened?" Bart's grandfather asked as he arrived.

"It's all just a big…" Bart began before his grandfather put his right hand up to stop him.

"'Speak swiftly…'" Bart's grandfather started, pausing for Bart to finish.

"'Before truth leaves you lips'," Bart replied, taking a deep breath to calm himself before beginning his story, "Jace attacked me for bumping into him, I dodged, and now his wrist is broken and his knuckle is cut."

Bart's grandfather nodded, "I will inform the principal so you can return to class."

"Be careful, Grandpa, the principal seems dangerous," Bart told him as he took a step.

He stopped and smiled, "I've faced the gods of history; a school official's nothing to worry about."

* * *

In expected fashion, Bart arrived at his English class half way through a lecture on the works of the Greek poet, Homer, and didn't have a book to reference.

"Here," a nearby student muttered as he shared his textbook with Bart.

"Thanks," Bart replied as he noticed his features. He was wearing a large, blue hoodie that looked like it had room for seven. Wire-framed glasses adorned his face, making his eyes seem larger, and light brown, messy hair sat atop his head. He also wore brown cargo pants and slip-on shoes, his entire appearance made him look extremely small and unimposing, which Bart guessed was the general idea.

"Will! Glad to see you being social," a voice from behind Bart and the sharing student whispered with excitement. Bart looked behind him to see an Asian girl wearing a black vest and a yellow blouse. Her raven black hair flowed past her shoulders and her eyes lit up as she smiled, "Hi, I'm Trini, and the socially acquired boy you're sharing a textbook with is Will, my boyfriend."

Bart spent the next couple of hours getting to know the two. Trini, who was the most open, had a passion for art, particularly comic book and Japanese manga styles. She was apparently of mixed heritage, having a Chinese-American father and a Japanese-American mother. Will was the harder of the two to figure out, mostly since he kept quiet, but from what Bart found out from Trini, he was a tech whiz, capable of fixing most computers. Trini even boasted that she saw Will fix a computer tower with a paper clip.

By the time lunch rolled around, Bart was feeling pretty good about the day. That was, however, when he met the official welcoming committee, a large man and a thin one, both garbed in punk attire. The large one had a round face and wore a leather aviator cap that covered his brown hair, while the thin one had a pair of goggles hanging from his neck and his black hair spiked up. Despite their supposed aggressive appearance, they weren't very intimidating in Bart's eyes. In fact, they looked like they had just walked out of an old silent film comedy similar to Charlie Chapman films or from a Three Stooges episode set in a post-apocalyptic future.

"Give me your money," the fat one demanded as he cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah, give me your money," the thin one repeated, holding out his right hand.

"Are you sure this tactic will really work?" Bart asked, hoping to confuse the two bullies by speaking intelligibly.

"W… What do you mean?" the fat one asked as he eased out of his attack stance.

"Well, there's the fact that, even if you do take my money, there's still the banking fee, the holding fee…" Bart launched into a truly nonsensical discussion that even he did not understand about the apparent taxation that was involved with taking lunch money, "and the actual lunch fee itself. Adding all that up, that leaves you in a serious amount of debt for simply taking my 'lunch money'."

The two bullies looked at each other, clearly confused by Bart's discussion. "Okay… well… we'll leave you to it, then," the fat one proclaimed as the two walked away.

"Never thought I'd see the day where those two would back off from their bullying tactics," Will muttered under his breath as he stuffed some fake, yet realistic bills back into his backpack and sat down with his lunch.

"You just had the pleasure of meeting the scum of the universe, Bulk and Skull," Trini stated with obvious disgust.

"Which one's which?" Bart asked with a smile on his face as he sat down next to Will and across from Trini. At that moment, however, another student sat down next to Trini.

"Trini, Will, hi," the brown haired boy stated as his gaze shifted between the two, "I need your help with the math."

"Mike," Trini was obviously a bit surprised by this request, "Hi… what happened to that eidetic memory of yours?"

"Anti-psychotics," he stated bluntly, clearly frustrated by this, "I just can't focus like I used to. You girls are the only people who'll talk to me anymore and can help me out. Please, help me, William Cranston, Trini Kwan, you're my only hope."

"Ehhh… okay," Trini relented, "Meet us after school at Ernie's."

"Hi, there," Bart declared his presence as Mike just now seemed to notice him.

"Oh," he stated with genuine surprise, "Sorry about that," Mike held his hand out across the table to Bart, "Mike La Crosse."

"Bart McKay," Bart shook his hand as they continued eating.


	3. Chapter 2

Bart and the rest of the group sat in Ernie's, an arcade, a restaurant, and a work-out gym all rolled into one. Trini was helping Mike out with Algebra while Will was typing something on his small laptop and Bart was busy finishing up his order of chicken strips. It was at this point that Jace decided to walk up and challenge Bart. The only part of his challenge that Bart paid attention to was the last part, "Let's see if you really have what it takes to take me down."

"My grandfather once said this, 'arrogance means you've already admitted defeat'," Bart stated as he finished the last chicken strip.

"I said get up!" Jace shouted, banging his right fist down on the table hard enough to cause quite a few of Mike's homework papers to fly off.

"Jace, what the hell?!" Trini yelled as she bent down to help Mike pick the papers up while he just ingested a pill.

"Don't worry, Trini, I'll handle this," Bart told her as he stood up and walked toward the mat. Jace got into a fighting stance as Ernie arrived, a physically obese, yet generally nice guy, and explained the rules; no head shots, no dirty fighting, and leaving the mat counts as a forfeit. Bart bowed to Jace as the fight began.

Jace was fast, throwing punches and kicks in rapid succession, yet Bart was faster. He quickly dodged each attempted attack as Jace began to taunt him with the typical trash talk. How he was nothing but a big wuss who couldn't stand being hit. Then, he started on a subject that was restricted by Bart, his mother. As soon as he threw the next punch, Bart gently grabbed his left arm, his right hand at Jace's slide, ready to strike him with a five inch punch. Within seconds, Bart punched him, knocking Jace off the mat and possibly breaking a few of his ribs.

"My mother's dead," Bart declared as he walked out of Ernie's.

* * *

It had taken the man in the ski mask and goggles months to get to this point, his initiation into the AGD, yet his hand shook as he held the 9 millimeter pistol against the skull of an innocent man. He couldn't bring himself to do it, and he let the man go. Once the mugging victim was out of sight, he threw the pistol as far away from him as possible and pulled off his ski mask and goggles to reveal his ebony skin, chocolate eyes, and black hair braided in short dreadlocks that barely touched his shoulders. His forehead beaded in sweat from the heat enveloping the Angel Grove Train Yards as he looked behind him to see a boy, Bart, who was about his age with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes holding a backpack and nodding at him.

"'It takes a brave man to pull a gun's trigger, and a braver man to know when not to'," Bart stated. The potential mugger was clearly confused by the statement.

"Yeah, thanks, buddy," he told Bart.

"Don't worry, I hardly know you, so why would I report you?"

"Either way, thanks," the man ran off, then stopped, commenting, "Hey, the name's Zak."

"Bart," Bart stated as Zak started off again. Bart continued home, just past the train yard. It was then that a dark-skinned man appeared from nowhere.

He sniffed the air, then, finally noticing Bart, proclaimed as he pointed at Bart, "I come to challenge you, this world's mightiest warrior."

"Well then, you're Spidey Senses aren't what they used to be," Bart told him as he dropped his backpack.

"I witnessed your fight against the other warrior in your arena. You toyed with him before proving his lack of worth. It is you I will fight," he attacked Bart, who quickly stepped out of the way.

"You should have chosen a better opponent," Bart began as he continued to dodge the strange warrior's attacks, "Like Hercules, Chuck Norris, or the entire A-Team."

"No, I searched, and found you to be the greatest," the man declared.

"What I mean to say is that they'd give you quarter," Bart kicked him in the chest, knocking him down easily, "While I won't."

The man grinned as he got up, despite being winded from the attack, "You have proven worthy enough to see my true form," his entire body was enveloped in a stylized golden flame, a flame that appeared similar to a golden griffin. As the flame died, the man appeared unharmed and garbed in golden armor, "I am Goldar the Griffin Knight and Slayer of Worlds."

Bart, in the meantime, had pulled out a sleek, black, rectangular object, "Well, Goldie, if you are going to… slay this world, then you're wasting your time," he placed the device just below his stomach and a belt formed from it around his waist, "There's just not as much to do here as other worlds."

He pushed a barely visible button on the top and far left of the device as it declared, "_Rider!_" and a circle of light appeared on the left side of the face of the device and Bart pressed on it, swiping it to the right, "_Engage!_" the device proclaimed as a pointing arrow of light swirled around Bart, enveloping him in a cylinder of light. Goldar attacked again, only meeting a force field as solid as a wall when he hit the cylinder. The light shattered, knocking Goldar back as Bart's transformation was complete. He was garbed in a black leather jumpsuit with red lines down the arms and legs, a silver metal vest, and a helmet that resembled a firefly.

This time, Bart attacked him, easily contending with the more powerful form. "Who's your trainer?" Bart asked sarcastically as he and Goldar danced around one another, constantly attacking, dodging, and blocking against each other, "I'd like to know how you got that kind of tone."

"I know not what you mean," Goldar grunted, "But my mistress's name is Rita, a name you will all soon know and fear!" at that moment, Goldar paused, "My mistress, she calls for me," the golden light enveloped Goldar once more as he returned to his original form, "You have proven a challenge, pray that you are on the right side when my mistress rules this world," he disappeared in a blur, leaving Bart a little worried as he pulled the device off.

* * *

Bart walked into the perpetual oasis in a desert, a gated, Chinese-like forest and house that his grandfather built several years ago, as he was greeted by his grandfather tending to a flower. "How was your day?" he asked, not taking his eye off of the plant.

"Good, at first," Bart replied, "Jace challenged me again and I broke his ribs."

"Did you do it for personal reasons?" his grandfather asked, apparently not worried by the implications.

"Only partially; Jace was interrupting friends of mine while he issued his challenge, and he insulted mom."

Bart's grandfather got up and looked at him with a sense of indifference, "Remember, 'only you can choose the path you walk'."

"'As no one will walk it for you'; I know," Bart finished, his voice calm.

"I hope that one day you won't have to discover the consequences of your anger toward others."

"I'll try, grandpa," Bart stated as he started toward his room.

"'Trial and error are required for success'. Don't expect swift results."

Bart entered his room above his workshop and immediately headed down to meet a friend of his, "Alpha, what have you got for me?"

"Not much so far," Alpha, a male-voiced AI program in Bart's computer declared as Bart sat down in a chair and moved toward a series of computer monitors connected together with metal piping, "The database is huge and we're looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack covered in needles."

"Never mind that for now, I've got something else for you."

Bart told him what happened earlier, with Alpha responding with his usual proclamation of "Aye, yai, yai." Bart finished, asking him to look Goldar up in the database. Alpha paused for a bit, "I found nothing."

"Are you sure, Alpha?" Bart was beginning to suspect something, a connection between Alpha and this Goldar.

"I'm sure," he responded with haste. Bart stared at the monitor, contemplating a possible connection that could also exist between Goldar and his mysterious benefactor, the one who, Bart suspected, gave Alpha sentience and gave him the materials to create his Power Driver, the device he used against Goldar. After only a few seconds, an earthquake began, shaking up the workshop as Bart tried to remain still after reaching a hard wood desk near the monitors. "Aye, yai, yai." One of the monitors turned to the news, which reported a group of stone statues and a man in gold armor attacking people in downtown Angel Grove.

Bart immediately grabbed his gear and declared, "Don't wait up for me," as he got on a Ducati motorcycle in the middle of the workshop and, after the large garage door was opened, he drove off.

* * *

The five chosen by Zordon were teleported to the Command Center, dazed and confused by their surroundings. As soon as one of them began to investigate, Alpha emerged and declared, "No! Don't touch that!" then proceeded to lose control of his hover packs, crashing into the boy that was investigating.

"Incredible, a fully sentient, multi-functional automaton," he stated as he turned Alpha's body around in her hands.

"Greetings, Rangers," Zordon's voice boomed, "I am Zordon, an energy-based being caught in a time warp."

"And my name is Alpha 5," Alpha proclaimed as he floated above the boy to get out of his reach.

Alpha and Zordon began to explain the situation, how they've been watching them for a while, to which one of the Rangers accused them of being stalkers, apparently trying to make it sound like a joke, "We've just been keeping track of your location and life signs," Alpha affirmed, trying not to make the situation worse.

Zordon continued by showing the Rangers holographic images of a woman he called Rita and her attack on Angel Grove, "She's a war witch with magical powers, hailing from another dimension, her mission is to conquer the universe," he then gave each of them what he called their morphers, which would allow them to transform into 'Power Rangers'. He then assigned each of them what he called 'zords', "A fleet of mechanical constructs based on Earth's prehistoric animals."

The Rangers, however, refused to believe his words, and instead walked out. "Aye, yai, yai, Zordon," Alpha declared, clearly depressed, "They were our only hope."

"No, Alpha, there is another."


	4. Chapter 3

Bart arrived to find a group of the stone statues causing mayhem. He immediately kicked one of them on his bike, and was surprised to find how easily they could be knocked over. Three of the stone statues rushed him as he stopped. He kicked the one to his left and dodged the other two as he got off his bike and opened the compartment beneath his seat. The two standing stone men rushed Bart again as he pulled out a pair of blasters and started shooting them. The monsters were repelled easily, and Bart could see off in the corner, a few policemen getting swarmed by the stone men. He quickly aimed his blasters at the monsters swarming the police and fired a few shots, disintegrating them.

Before the officers could look over to see their savior, Goldar appeared and toss a few of them off to the side. "So, we meet again, Rider."

Bart turned the voice distorter on before he spoke, "Let me guess, you caught my scent?" Bart joked as he decided to go along with the 'Rider' comment.

Goldar smiled, "You're the only warrior on Earth who..." he was interrupted by the sound of five people garbed in what appeared black leather, white spandex, and varying colors of plastic that formed light armor. Each person had an emblem on their chest that showed some sort of pre-historic animal; the red one had a tyrannosaurus, blue a triceratops, black a mastodon, yellow a sabertooth tiger, and pink a pterodactyl. Their helmets also seemed to reflect their respective animals, "The Power Rangers," Goldar muttered under his breath.

"Give it up, Goldar!" the Red Ranger demanded as Goldar entered a fighting stance.

"You guys handle Goldilocks, I'll take care of the statues," Bart declared as he pulled his Drive out from his jacket pocket.

"Putties," the Blue Ranger told him, "They… they're called putties."

"Nice to know," Bart slapped on the Driver and activated it before the Blue Ranger could ask any questions. The putties entered an attack stance as the Rangers engaged Goldar, "Well, then, let's get started," Bart stated as the putties attacked. Each putty was easily tossed aside with a single kick from Bart as he maneuvered around each of them. He almost felt sorry for them, but guessed that they weren't sentient, given how easily he could fool them into knocking each other down.

After a few more blows, the putties dissolved as Bart pressed a button on the bottom of his Driver and pulled the device off, returning him to normal. He looked over toward the Rangers, who were off in the distance, apparently engaging a giant Goldar in battle by using a giant robot of their own. A sword materialized in the robot's hand as Goldar fled the scene, vowing to return. Bart headed back to his bike when he heard the sound of the Blue Ranger's voice, "Wait!" Bart stopped and turned around, "Who are you?"

Bart looked at him, "Just a Rider passing through," he declared as he got on his bike and drove off.

* * *

Bart jumped onto his bed, exhausted from the recent battle. He looked over to the nightstand on his right and picked up a piece of paper on it. It was a letter he received from his father a year ago. He sank back into his bed as he remembered the night he received the package that came with the letter.

It was raining on that night as he came home from the store. He immediately noticed the large, light brown package inside the mailbox outside the gate and quickly snatched it. Inside was a letter addressed to Bart with no return address and a series of blueprints. He immediately ran to his room to read it:

'_Son, if you are reading this it means I'm gone. Please don't try looking for me. I left to keep you safe from a group of people who want to get their hands on the device in the blueprints I have entrusted to you. It's called a Power Driver, a device that is apparently run on what scientists call 'rift energy' and uses something referred as a 'bio-electrical field that somehow binds all life together'. Keep it safe and make sure it does not fall into the hands of a group of people identified only by the initials 'CI'. Be safe, and know that I love you._'

Bart, obviously, disregarded his father's wishes, having created Alpha, who started out as a simple search algorithm, and somehow evolved, most likely with the help of someone who he suspected worked with his dad and was providing him with the equipment necessary to create everything he had in his workshop, to search for any clues regarding this 'CI', yet he hadn't found anything of use yet. Despite the sense of hopelessness, however, Bart felt he was closer than ever to discovering the secret behind this 'CI' group and why his father disappeared.

* * *

The next day at school, everyone was talking about the giant robot that protected the city last night. Bart hadn't heard anything about himself, until he heard Bulk and Skull talking.

"You know, maybe we should start up a Ranger fan club," Skull began, obviously proud of the idea he came up with, "And ask for an entry fee..."

Bulk stopped him, "Actually, I heard from a friend of a cousin of a niece of a brother of a roommate of an uncle that these 'Power Rangers' only took down the big gold guy. There was an entire army of those freaky stone guys, and they were defeated by one man," Bulk held up his index finger and paused for effect, "Now, do we want to start a club for a group who fought one guy, or one guy who defeated an army?" Skull nodded vigorously, "First, we need proof that this man."

Bart felt that this might pose a bit of a problem for him, but, giving Bulk and Skull's demeanor, they wouldn't find anything. With that thought, he walked off toward his next class.


	5. Chapter 4

Lunch rolled around as Bart found himself slightly amazed. Bulk and Skull were attempting to sell off the idea of the existence of something they called the 'Power Rider', but no one was buying it, which relieved Bart. He didn't want too much attention focused around his actions; otherwise he might not be able to continue his search.

Further shock came to Bart in the form of an apology from Jace, "No hard feelings?" he asked as he held his hand out in a friendly gesture.

"No hard feelings," Bart shook Jace's hand, "But what spurred this change?"

"I did," Bart looked behind him to see the owner of the voice, and he was immediately in love. She had the look of a typical prep, light brown hair and almond eyes, she wore a cheerleader's uniform and a Letterman's jacket, "Through a long talk about personal responsibility," she sat down next to Jace as Bart immediately connected the dots. She was wearing Jace's Letterman jacket.

"Hey, Kim," Jace stated as he kissed her on the lips. Bart's heart sank a little.

"Hey, you guys," Bart heard another surprisingly familiar voice. Zak walked toward them and sat down at the table as well, "'Sup?" Zak asked with a grin on his face as if he was attempting humor.

"Lights," Bart stated, keeping his own face locked in 'serious-mode'.

"Very funny," Zak told him, "You know, I bet you're the life of the party."

"So, how'd you all become friends?" Bart asked. Everyone just stared at each other, as if it was some big secret. Bart wasn't fond of these kinds of moments, but he kept silent. He knew he'd have to earn their trust to find the truth.

"We met last night," Will declared bluntly, "After the earthquake," and no more was said on that subject.

* * *

Alpha apparently had news for Bart, judging by his excitement, it was good news.

"I've found a link to 'CI' in the FBI database!" Alpha nearly shouted.

"And, what is it?" At this point, Bart was understandably impatient, having been searching for clues for the past few years.

"Apparently, this 'CI' is known as Cybertech Industries, a company that has been researching robotics since the late 1950s, and has been having recent dealings with a local gang. They're called the 'Angel Grove Demons'."

"My God, doesn't anyone in this town know how to name themselves?" Bart joked as he sat down in front of the monitors and began searching for information on the Demons.

"They seem to be lead by a man named Derrik Jamesson, a young black man who took the position a few years ago from a Franklin Taylor..." Alpha paused inexplicably. Bart recognized the last name. He suspected that Zak might have been a member of these so-called 'Demons', "The report states that Franklin Taylor was killed in a gunfight with a rival gang three years ago."

"I'm heading out to the train yard," Bart declared as he took his equipment and got on the bike, "Don't wait up."

* * *

Bart arrived back at the train yard. He found Zak's footprints heading off further into the train yard and decided to follow. The tracks led into an old warehouse that should have been abandoned, yet Bart could hear voices coming from it.

"Zak, Zak, Zak, you've really disappointed me," one of the voices coming from the warehouse stated. Bart moved in closer to see an African-American man with cornrows holding a 9mm pistol in his left hand, Derrik Jamesson. Bart was surprised, considering that he wasn't using slang terms, "You thought that you could escape THIS?" He twitched the pistol as he pointed it at Zak, "Granted, for the life of me, I still can't figure out how you escaped, with that weird light and all, but you really thought that we wouldn't find you?"

"Honestly, I…" Zak squirmed as he tried to shift around in the ropes that bound him, "I didn't realize you were this nuts when I tried to join."

Jamesson fired a bullet past Zak, just barely missing his right ear. "Good thing for you, that you're not needed, then," he urged over to the shadows behind him, and three men emerged. Each man seemed to have cybernetic enhancements, with robotic eyes and circuit-esque veins across their heads, "We've had some improvements."

Bart adjusted the camera on his headset, allowing Alpha to see the men, "Alpha, run a search on Cybertech and any recent projects they've been working on."

At that moment, Jamesson crushed the pistol in his hand as if it were made of clay, "That's not all we've got," within seconds, he burst into flames, similar to what Bart saw with Goldar, yet green instead of gold. The flames died, revealing a set of armor that again resembled Goldar's, with a silver manticore motif to it.

"Who are you?!" a voice from behind Bart declared, causing him to quickly turn around to see the three cyber-enhanced men. Bart slapped on his Driver and activated it.

Off in the distance, he heard a male voice shouting, "Mastodon," which sounded ridiculous to Bart, thinking back on it, but he didn't register it at the time. These men proved to be more of a challenge than the putties of last night, but the fought more with brute strength than skill.

As soon as the three were corralled together, Bart pressed a button atop the Driver and to the right. "_Full Charge,_" the Driver declared. A white circle appeared on the face of the Driver and Bart pressed it three times, "_One, two, three,_" the Driver counted as energy surged through Bart's body.

"Rider Kick," Bart stated before roundhouse kicking the three in the face. Electromagnetic energy surged through his right foot, deactivating the electronics in the bodies of the gang bangers. Off in the distance, the Red, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Rangers joined the Black Ranger in their fight against Jamesson, "The Black Ranger must have just gotten here first," Bart muttered to himself as he walked over to a vial that held a grey, metallic liquid. He checked a shipment invoice that mentioned some sort of super soldier serum. "Alpha, I'm bringing something back to the Workshop that I'll need you to analyze," Bart de-morphed and started back home, leaving the fight against Jamesson in the Rangers' hands.


End file.
